Seahawks vs Lions: Jared Goff’s Perfect Game & Key Player Stats
We’ve already seen some excellent prime-time football in the first month of this season, but this one felt like a true 12-round slugfest between heavyweights. Detroit opened with an impressive drive, Baltimore quickly countered with a scoring march of their own, and then the Lions answered back with a jaw-dropping 98-yard possession across 18 plays, making it clear they wouldn’t be rattled by the aura of M&T Bank Stadium under the lights. The two sides traded blows throughout the night, creating a thrilling spectacle until Detroit’s commitment to its identity — refusing to back down, converting a gutsy fourth down, and capping it with a rushing touchdown — sealed a momentous victory. If every NFL game looked like this one, fans would never step away from their screens. Monday night may have even given us a glimpse of a potential Super Bowl showdown.
Baltimore badly needs its front line back. It’s rare to see a clash between two elite teams feature multiple touchdown drives of 95-plus yards by one side, but that’s exactly what Detroit accomplished, asserting dominance over the Ravens with a mix of sharp third-down plays and relentless running. Ravens fans can’t ignore this reality, though many will point to the absence of Nnamdi Madubuike and Kyle Van Noy — two players with different responsibilities on the line but both crucial in maintaining run-stopping strength. Without them, Detroit exploited Baltimore, balancing its play-action-heavy scheme with a bruising ground attack that produced highlight runs from David Montgomery and broke the spirit of Baltimore’s defense. This was not Ravens football, and Baltimore will be harsh on itself after being manhandled up front. The hope is that self-criticism — along with time to heal — fixes things.
Detroit bottled up Lamar Jackson. It isn’t often that a defense frustrates Jackson so thoroughly that he looks visibly upset on the sideline in crunch time, but that was the scene Monday night. The Lions’ defensive front — a group many doubted coming into 2025 — swarmed him all game, sacking him seven times with multiple diving tackles. More importantly, Detroit played hard-nosed, disciplined defense, neutralizing Baltimore’s explosiveness when it mattered most. Perhaps it’ll serve as a wake-up call for Jackson and his improvisational approach. For Detroit, it was a massive statement.
Derrick Henry’s fumbling is a problem. From Week 18 of 2022 through the end of 2024, Henry touched the ball 683 times and fumbled just three times. This year, in only 43 touches, he’s already put it on the ground three times. His fourth-quarter fumble came after he mysteriously disappeared from Baltimore’s offense during a stretch when his running could have kept drives alive. And when he finally reappeared, he made the costliest mistake, coughing it up right after Detroit had been limited to a field goal in a one-score game. No player is flawless, and defenders force fumbles every week, but Henry’s sudden turnover issues are alarming given his importance to the Ravens’ offense. Once a home run threat, punishing power back, dependable workhorse, and proven closer, he suddenly can’t finish — which diminished his role Monday night and directly shaped the result. Just last season, Henry was one-third of Baltimore’s explosive attack, but now his place in that formula feels uncertain. His emotional sideline outburst said it all. Nobody knows why he’s suddenly coughing it up, but if Henry and the Ravens want to hit their ceiling, he must fix it quickly.
Detroit reminds the league they’re still a machine. Entering 2025, the Lions carried plenty of questions. Could their defense — a unit thin on proven front-line talent outside of Aidan Hutchinson and veteran D.J. Reader — rise up in big moments? Could they recover after losing coordinators Aaron Glenn and Ben Johnson to head coaching gigs? On Monday night, the Lions answered both doubts emphatically, combining rugged defense with long, powerful offensive series fueled by Montgomery’s running and Jared Goff’s sharp passing. They controlled the trenches, sprinkled in creative wrinkles reminiscent of Johnson’s schemes, and looked every bit like the Super Bowl favorite they were a year ago. Their shaky Week 1 outing now feels like ancient history.
Next Gen Stats (via NFL Pro): David Montgomery rushed for a career-high 151 yards on just 12 carries, gaining +108 rushing yards over expected — a league-best by 39 yards this season. He produced four explosive runs of 10+ yards, just the fourth such game of his career, and racked up a career-high 87 yards after six missed tackles.
NFL Research: The Ravens surrendered touchdown drives of 96 and 98 yards, becoming the first team to allow multiple 95-yard touchdown drives on Monday Night Football since Baltimore itself did so in 2010 against Houston in a 34-28 win.
